Phoenix Ashes
by potatoes-are-not-for-sex
Summary: It's early in the morning when it happens, but a happy occasion brings to light the distance they'd never noticed growing between them. One-shot for Dan's 2 million subscribers!


Dan stares at the figure next to his name, his fingers still hovering over the 'refresh' button. The truth is there, plain and simple before him, but somehow his eyes are refusing to believe what he's seeing.

**DANISNOTONFIRE**  
**The internet support group for people who hate people.**  
**2, 000, 003 subscribed.**

He blinks, twice- for good measure. The impossible figure is still there and he almost doesn't dare to refresh the page again, in case there's been some kind of glitch. It barely seems long ago that he remembers waking up to find he had 500,000 subscribers and, overjoyed and emphatically grateful to all the individuals who actually thought his videos were worth subscribing to, he had instantly called Phil and-

Realizing the exact thing that was missing from the current scene, Dan sprang to his feet, looked back over his shoulder at the laptop screen once more, then crossed his room in three long paces, swinging the door open.

His hand was resting on Phil's doorknob when he suddenly paused. Pressing one ear against the wood, he listens for a few heartbeats, but upon hearing nothing relinquishes his position and steps back into his own room, closing the door behind him and leaning back against it.

It's 2am, Phil's surely asleep and while he would definitely (probably?) be just as excited as Dan about this news, surely he'd be much happier hearing it tomorrow morning and managing a few hours of undisturbed rest. With a sigh, Dan ruffles a hand through his hair and returns to flop back onto his bed. When did this happen? Two years ago, he and Phil basically had their own language; they were so in tune with each other and their moods, their quirks and eccentricities. The two were still close and still did so much together, but somehow the naïve adoration had faded into a more routine, comfortable companionship.

Glancing once more over at the screen, still luminously displaying those seven digits, Dan remembers with a smile how he sent Phil the link to his first video, bumbling through apologies and self-criticism. He hadn't heard a response for an hour and assumed Phil had been out with friends, but then there was a knock at the door and his new friend had bounded through with chocolates and a huge grin.

"You're going to be famous one day Dan, I'll bet my lion on that!" They had both laughed and Dan had threatened to film Phil's lion performing offensive acts once Phil lost the bet, but as it turned out, Phil had been right.

The corners of his lips half-raised at the memory and still fully dressed; Dan drifts off to sleep, his laptop shining brightly on the pillow beside him.

* * *

With a satisfied and exhausted sigh, Phil closes the window on his laptop and clicks the lid shut, folding his arms behind his head and reclining back against his pillows. When he'd said his goodnights to Dan four and a half hours earlier, he'd intended on watching a single episode of Hannibal before bed, but the ending had been so terribly leading that it was essential to watch at least the first ten minutes of the next episode- but then it seemed a waste to watch only half an episode- and so on until it was already way past anyone's bedtime and he had finished every episode of the first season.

Stretching and sitting up properly, he flips open the screen of his laptop and absentmindedly opens up his YouTube home page. Still too stimulated to sleep, he decides to scroll through and reply to some of the comments on latest video – when suddenly something catches his eye in the sidebar. Clicking on the link to Dan's page, it opens to confirm what he saw before – over two million subscribers?

Phil lets out a high-pitched whoop of joy and jumps off the bed, skidding slightly on the corner of his rug, rocketing into the door. Unaffected by his clumsy mishap, he makes his way through and flings open Dan's door, ready to tackle him in a hug of congratulations- only to see his friend, strewn across the bed in skinny jeans and t-shirt, features illuminated by the glow of his laptop, and fast asleep.

Phil can see from where he is that Dan has his YouTube page open, so he must have seen the number of his subscribers. Perhaps he thought Phil was asleep? Or maybe he thought that Phil wouldn't care to know, that Phil would just see the next morning… Shaking his head as if to toss those thoughts away, Phil trudges back to his room.

It wasn't like things were that weird between them. They'd even started making videos together again recently, and those ones, as always, always left Phil feeling far more successful and joyful after filming. Curling up under his sheets with Lion, he flexes his toes, one foot after the other, thinking about the past years and his time with Dan.

Their friendship wasn't something you saw everyday, and Phil knew that. He'd lived through many friendships, some ending in tragedy and others in the cheerful camaraderie he shared with Chris, or PJ, but nothing compared to Dan. Snuggling further into the pillow, he pulls out his phone, opening up the Delia Smith website and scrolling through the recipes until he arrives at the Original Delia Pancakes. Saving the text, he slips his phone under the pillow, the plan forming in his mind, down to every last detail.

Pancakes. Coffee. Maple syrup and some blueberries. Nothing like a surprise celebratory breakfast to begin the mending of their friendship.

* * *

_Just a little something to celebrate Dan's two million subscribers! I hope you like it, I might try and write a companion piece sometime because it ended up getting sadder than I anticipated! But let me know what you thought, one-shots are fun! And lets all look forward to some good photos and footage from VidCon :D _

_Until next time!_

_xxx panfs_


End file.
